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Northwest Transmission Line On Line

Construction on the line wrapped up on June 7 and BC Hydro has been commissioning the 287 kilovolt line since that time.

“In the commissioning process we basically look at and test every component of the transmission line” says BC Hydro spokesperson Leslie Wood. That inspection includes the new substation built at Bob Quinn Lake and the new equipment added to the Skeena substation.

Wood says right now, the NWTL is only providing power to the Forrest- Kerr small hydro project, “That’s an Alta Gas project, they’re an anchor tenant, and they are doing their own commissioning to bring their small IPP (Independent Power Project) up so they can start supplying power back into our grid.” The project is a run of river IPP on the Iskut river. “ So we’re supplying them with power for their commissioning processes and then when they’re finished commissioning they’ll start feeding power back into the BC Hydro grid through the Northwest Transmission line” says Wood.

Imperial Metals’ Red Chris Mine will also be linking on to the line, a connection which Wood says will happen later this year. Then there’s the connection to the community of Iskut, a link that will put an end to the use of diesel generators. “The Northwest Transmission line will facilitate taking the community of Iskut off diesel generation that’s actually part of another project. What that involves is, Iskut is quite a ways north of the end of the NWTL, and there is a transmission line being built right now it’s actually to feed power to the Red Chris Mine. Assuming that line is built to our operating standards and First Nations consultation meets our standards, which are quite high, we will be purchasing a portion of that line which will go to a new substation that is under construction and from there we will build a distribution line into the community of Iskut.”

The goal is to have that community on the grid by this time next year.

The final cost for the NWTL has yet to be finalized, but the budget for the project was $746 million dollars. Wood says they fully expect to come in on, or under that number.

As for the breakdown of who is paying what on that bill, Wood says Infrastructure Canada kicked in $130 million, AltaGas put up $180 and BC Hydro has financed the balance. “We’ve got the BC Utilities Commission’s permission to apply a new tariff, and users of the transmission line, like Red Chris for example, will be paying a tariff that will go to the capital costs of the NWTL.”

The new line runs 344 kilometers north from the Skeena Substation near Terrace to a new substation near Bob Quinn Lake.

This line has been viewed as the key to opening up development in the northwest of B.C.